Premier Jean Charest says he’s now willing to phase in the $1,625 tuition increase over seven years instead of five and improve the loans-and-bursaries program.

Students and teachers in Montreal on Thursday protest the 75-per-cent tuition hike being imposed on university students by the provincial governmental of Quebec led by Premier Jean Charest. On Friday, the province offered to spread the increase over seven years.

Published on Fri Apr 27 2012

QUEBEC—In a series of moves aimed at calming his province’s angry student movement and at winning public sympathy, Premier Jean Charest has made an offer to soften the blow of planned tuition hikes.

The premier told a news conference Friday that he’s willing to phase in the $1,625 increase over seven years — instead of five. His government also wants to index increases to the rate of inflation, while enriching the loans-and-bursaries program.

On the whole, Friday’s proposed changes would mean that, instead of annual increases of $325 for five years, tuition would rise $254 for seven straight years.

The premier called that a responsible way to keep Quebec’s universities well-funded and competitive — without reaching once again into the pockets of taxpayers.

As for the tuition freeze being demanded at increasingly unruly demonstrations? Speaking directly to Quebecers, Charest said he will not bend.

Reports of the protests have moved beyond Quebec and begun making some international news, with the demonstrations increasingly becoming contests between window-smashing vandals and police blasting crowds with chemical irritants.

Many students have also been casting their struggle as a broader social cause, using terms like, “Quebec Spring” to describe their movement.

“I want to address all Quebecers to tell you: My government will never agree to act, or to concede, under the threat of violence and blackmail,” Charest said.

There appeared to be a two-fold strategy at the news conference hosted by Charest and Education Minister Line Beauchamp outside the premier’s office in Quebec City.

The first was to split the student movement and isolate its most radical faction from the rest.

The second was to win public sympathy on an issue that could — sooner or later — play a central role in an election campaign.

They asked students to take time to discuss and reflect on their offer, without making a knee-jerk reply. They also asked the remaining “striking” students, in the meantime, to go back to class and put an end to their weeks-long walkout.

“For an effort of 50 cents a day, it strikes me that it’s no longer time to compromise their diplomas,” Beauchamp said.

“I’m inviting students to go back to class. Because the solution proposed by the government is fair and equitable.”

And in a message aimed at the broader public, the premier and education minister repeatedly mentioned respect for taxpayers.

There is some speculation among the Quebec punditry that if the current unrest continues, Charest could call an election and campaign on the issue. He will begin the fifth year of his mandate in late 2012.

“We’re not there,” Charest said.

He called it “grotesque” that anyone would believe he might cynically use the issue to get re-elected. Polls suggest that his government, which is otherwise deeply unpopular, actually has public support when it comes to the tuition hikes.

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